It’s a go for Comcast to takeover NBC Universal, thanks to today’s approval by both the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, marking the first time a cable company will own a broadcast network. What does it all mean?

First, “30 Rock” and Tina Fey are good to go with storylines for the foreseeable future.

Second, because consumer groups and Comcast are equally discontent with certain parts of the FCC’s ruling, figure that the commission got it mostly right.

There are restrictions — Comcast can’t manipulate Hulu to the advantage of NBC Universal, for instance, and isn’t supposed to discriminate in favor of programming it will now own, and has to add channels to represent “diversity.” But it’s worth reading the dissenting opinion by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps.

Copps has long opposed media consolidation, and concluded that the Comcast-NBC Universal deal “confers too much power in one company’s hands.”

The most crucial point of Copps’ statement: the joint venture “opens the door to the cable-ization of the open Internet. The potential for walled gardens, toll booths, content prioritization, access fees … and a stake in the heart of independent content production is now very real.”

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.